LIFE WITH THE TKOTTEliS. 75 



ideas of our own, wMch, on the following day, we carried 

 ont. 



Rarus had rather peculiar feet, which always troubled 

 him more or less while I had him. They were inclined to 

 be very high, and rather narrow at the heel. They also had 

 something in the way of thrush, or some such disease, for 

 which I never found, perhaps, the proper name. At times 

 of the year there would be a discharge of a purulent sub- 

 stance, and he would seem to get very sore in his frogs. 

 Before I had him he had been troubled with one or two 

 quarter cracks. His feet were rather inclined to be dry and 

 hard, with occasional fever. We had him shod, reducing 

 the weight of his shoes to about thirteen ounces, lowered his 

 heels some and shortened his toes a trifle. At this time his 

 hind feet were inclined to be very long, and low at his heels. 

 We shortened his toes behind, and thought they would bear 

 to be shod with six-ounce shoes, full at the toe, to balance 

 him behind. The first time I drove him, after having been 

 thus shod, I liked him better, and he could go faster than 

 ever I had seen him. I also reduced the weight of his quar- 

 ter boots, having them as light as possible. At this time 

 we had on him nothing but quarter boots in front, with light 

 scalpers and shin and passing boots behind. The following 

 week, at Springfield, we met Carrie and Adelaide, beating 

 them in 2:26, 2:26|, and 2:25, in straight heats, without an 

 effort, and then we started for Fleetwood Park, New York, 

 to trot a match race for $1,000 with Sam Purdy, to wagon, 

 our opponent being a stallion that Doble had brought from 

 California, that had obtained a record through the grand 

 circuit of 2:201-, and came from the Pacific coast with the 

 reputation of being a great wagon horse. A great many 

 people thought that, from Rams' s formation, he would not 

 be able to pull weight, and believed that when he came to 

 the hill in the last half mUe at Fleetwood, it would anchor 

 him. Mr. Conklin had often told me, in our talks about 

 Rarus, that he could draw weight, and draw it well, as in 

 his work over the sandy roads of Long Island he had shown 



6 



